National Energy Audit (NEAT) Users Manual Version 7

Welcome to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) energy auditing tool, called ''NEAT.'' NEAT, an acronym for National Energy Audit Tool, a program for personal computers that was designed for use by local agencies in the Weatherization Assistance Program. It is an approved alternative audit that meets all auditing requirements set forth by the Program. NEAT is easy to use. It applies engineering and economic calculations to evaluate energy conservation measures for single-family, detached houses or small multifamily buildings. You can use it to rank measures for each individual house, or to establish a priority list of conservation measures for nearly identical housing types. NEAT was written for the Weatherization Assistance Program by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Many building energy consumption algorithms are taken from Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's Computerized Instrumented Residential Audit (CIRA), published in 1982 for the Department of Energy. Equipment retrofit conservation measures are based on published reports on various heating retrofits. Heating and cooling system replacement conservation measures are based on the energy ratings of new heating and cooling equipment. The Weatherization Program anticipates that this computer-based energy audit will offer substantial performance improvements to many states who choose to incorporate it into their programs. When conservation measures are evaluated locally according to climate, fuel cost, measure cost, and existing house conditions, the Program will be closer to its goal of assuring the maximum return for every federal dollar spent.